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Energy Systems and Technologies for the Coming Century ...

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The levelized costs of electricity (LCOE) in case of grid line extension have beentabulated in table 4 with combinations of multiple scenarios. LCOE from a grid extensionis depends largely on <strong>the</strong> numbers of household to be served, followed by <strong>the</strong> loaddensity <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> distance from <strong>the</strong> MV substation of <strong>the</strong> grid line. The table showsthat serving a village with 1000 households with <strong>the</strong> load density of 150 household/Km2<strong>and</strong> 6 Km from <strong>the</strong> MV substation has <strong>the</strong> minimum LCOE (0.127 USD/kWh). Whereas,<strong>the</strong> LCOE <strong>for</strong> serving a village of 50 households, with scattered settlement (25Household/Km2) <strong>and</strong> 25 Km away from <strong>the</strong> MV substation is very high (1.75USD/kWh).If we compare <strong>the</strong> LCOE with grid with o<strong>the</strong>r renewable energy technology, it is clearthat if <strong>the</strong>re are large numbers of clients <strong>and</strong> load density is high, <strong>the</strong> grid connection canbe competitive. But as most of <strong>the</strong> rural areas are characterized by scattered settlement,less households to be served which are far away from <strong>the</strong> grid lines, renewable energytechnology are more competitive on such cases.3.4 Connection of micro hydro in National Grid line:The off-grid <strong>and</strong> on-grid options are often promoted in parallel <strong>for</strong> electrification in manydeveloping countries like Nepal, <strong>and</strong> basis <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> choice is not very clear. In this context,least cost options in face of scarce resources have seldom been searched. However inNepal, <strong>the</strong>re has been huge investment in off-grid electrification by <strong>the</strong> two nationalprogrammes (REDP <strong>and</strong> ESAP) as well as rapid expansion of grid electricity undercommunity rural electrification project of Nepal Electricity Authority. This hasapparently reduced <strong>the</strong> distance between national grid line <strong>and</strong> existing micro hydroproject significantly in some of <strong>the</strong> areas. This has led to a question in <strong>the</strong> pathways ofrural electrification. What if <strong>the</strong> grid line reaches <strong>the</strong> location where <strong>the</strong>re exists microhydro or what if small power developers serving <strong>the</strong> rural areas in isl<strong>and</strong>ing mode(isolated mode) also wants to connect <strong>the</strong> plant in <strong>the</strong> remote ends?Is this scenario a conflict between on-grid path <strong>and</strong> off-grid path or <strong>the</strong>y can becomplement each o<strong>the</strong>r’s <strong>and</strong> serve in a better way? This section has analyzed <strong>and</strong>discussed <strong>the</strong> issue of connecting micro hydro in grid line.There are no hard <strong>and</strong> fast definitions <strong>and</strong> guidelines <strong>for</strong> what size of micro hydro can beconnected <strong>and</strong> at what voltage level. Site specific studies need to be per<strong>for</strong>med to look atlocal network situation <strong>and</strong> cost of connection to <strong>the</strong> grid. Literatures (Spooner <strong>and</strong>Harbidge, 2001; AEPC-ESAP, 2005; Marsh, 2004; Muñoz et al., 2010) are available on<strong>the</strong> st<strong>and</strong>ards of grid connection <strong>and</strong> review of various issues related with technology <strong>and</strong>legislation specific. There are various factors which determined <strong>the</strong> feasibility <strong>and</strong> cost ofconnection to <strong>the</strong> grid. The voltage of <strong>the</strong> local network <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> grid at which <strong>the</strong> systemneed to be connected; size <strong>and</strong> type of generating units to be connected; distance of <strong>the</strong>existing grid line from <strong>the</strong> point of interconnection; present fault levels <strong>and</strong> fault rating ofequipment on network; existing local substation arrangements, such as output profile <strong>and</strong>fault contribution of new generator are <strong>the</strong> parameters that determines <strong>the</strong> feasibility.Some of <strong>the</strong> above issues are of more technical importance while some have financialsignificance. In this paper we have discussed only <strong>the</strong> financial aspect <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>re<strong>for</strong>e,looked at <strong>the</strong> levelized cost of micro hydro power plant if connected in <strong>the</strong> grid, <strong>and</strong>Risø International <strong>Energy</strong> Conference 2011 Proceedings Page 372

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